The labour shortage facing Victorian business has a silver lining.
A dramatically increasing number of workers are aged over 45 and, at the same time, fewer younger workers are entering the workforce. This is creating a labour shortage, not only in skilled trades and professions, but also in unskilled and semi-skilled occupations.
Over the past 30 years, Australian workers have been encouraged to retire earlier than previous generations. It is now imperative that workers remain employed for as long as possible in order to counter the labour and skills shortages caused by Australia's ageing population and workforce. Employers need to develop strategies to accommodate the changing demographic and contend with the reality where new entrants to the workforce will not be able to meet the required labour demand.
Australia currently experiences workforce growth of about 170,000 each year. However, predicted growth is just 125,000 for the entire decade of 2020s.
What will happen within our employee population - and our business - as the demographics of the labour force change?
What are the economics, the business case of retaining and hiring older workers?
What are the best approaches for retaining critical knowledge and making the most of the available talent?
What are the leading companies doing to address the ageing workforce issue?
Business needs to start planning for tomorrow today.
In order to raise employer awareness of population and workforce ageing issues, a partnership has been formed between VECCI and the Department for Victorian Communities. Together, we have established the Grey Matters Positive Ageing Workforce Education Project.
Grey Matters' objectives are to:
- provide information to employers on the benefits of retaining and recruiting older workers
- to present facts and examine myths and realities about older workers
- develop practical tools for business workforce planning and development
- encourage more flexible recruitment, employment, training and retirement procedures and practices
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